Prices Paid
by FictionFiend75
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin had a plan to change his fate, but it wasn't what he expected. Spoilers up to "The Snow Queen".


Author's Note: I am a huge OUAT fan and I am increasingly annoyed by the fact that they continue to throw the Rumpelstiltskin character back and forth because he is my favorite and I feel that he deserves better. This came to me after Rumple's plan was kind of unveiled in last week's episode and I wrote it mostly on my phone while riding the bus. Its just kind of how I would like to see his story go and I wanted to post it before tonight's big 2 hour episode which will likely crush all my hopes and dreams for this character. Spoilers for season 4 so read at your own risk and please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Prices Paid

He hadn't expected this. The hat. The spell. They were supposed to rid him of the dagger, that was what the prophecies had said. That is what he had understood to be true. But they were wrong. The snow queen had neglected to tell him the truth he now understood she knew. The hat had done its job. The dagger was gone, but so was the power.

Belle had wept when she learned what he had done, but she had stayed by his side nonetheless. She brought him home, tended to him. The pain was immense.

Hundreds of years of power, power he felt in his blood even during those 28 long years, had been stripped from his body at once, leaving him weak and Ill. His fever raged on for days, and even when it passed he wouldn't leave his bed.

He spoke to no one, not even her, and she said nothing in return. She left him to himself and for days he barely say her, yet he knew she was there. He ate little yet would awake to tea and toast everyday regardless. As his mind and body fought through the crippling depression, the thought of her was all that brought a smile to his face. But even those thoughts would turn to guilt and sadness when he thought about all that he had done.

Three weeks passed of him barely leaving his bed and never leaving his room. One morning his eyes flickered open to the sound of China clinking on his bedside table. The room was dark, the day so early that the sun itself was not yet awake, but there she was still taking care of him.

He reached out to her, too guilty to show her his face. The touch of her skin as his hand fell on her arm was electric and it took all his courage to speak instead of crawling back under the covers in shame. He struggled to say her name but gave up. Instead he whispered his question so quietly he wasn't sure she had heard.

"Will you do something for me?"

He felt the soft brush of her hand on his. A quiet confirmation.

"Go into town, to the shop. Open it. Tell everyone in town to take what is theirs. Turn the rest over to the sheriff. She'll do what needs to be done."

She squeezes his hand in response and left. He knew she would do as he asked.

That moment was the first step, the first weight to be lifted off his chest.

It got easier after that. He felt himself growing stronger, he spent less time in bed and more time thinking about the mistakes he had made. He knew he couldn't fix it all, but with the darkness fading from his heart, he was determined to try and he knew where to start.

He waited for her to come home from the library, standing quietly in the front hall. She came in at 6 o'clock on the dot, and he couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since he had seen her, really truly seen her, and his heart told him now just how much he had missed her. A lot of surprise crossed her face when she saw him standing there, but before she could say anything he began to speak.

"Belle, I want to first say that I know I have hurt you, betrayed you, and taken advantage of your love trust, and for that I am truly sorry. You have done nothing but stood by my side even at my worst and I cannot be more grateful. Even now, you're still caring for me. I don't expect things to go back to the way they were between us, or for you to forgive me not yet, but I promise you that I am going to do everything in my power to earn your trust. I'm going to be that man. I'm going to make things right, because I love you more than anything and I'm not going to let anything get in the way of that again."

She came to him then, throwing her arms around him, her tears falling as freely as his own, and she spoke the first words she has said to him in months.

"I love you too."

For once he kept his word. With the dark ones power gone, he was free to be the man he had always hoped he would be. The shop was given to Henry, who with the help of his mothers and his grandparents turned it into quite the successful toys hop. Rumple knew it was the right choice and was glad to see a place once full of darkness be turned into something knew. It gave him hope for his own redemption.

With his magic and his shop both gone, Rumple spent his days living quietly, working with his wife at the library, and doing what he could to set things right with those that he had hurt. There were plenty of people that wouldn't forgive him, and he couldn't blame them for it. He spent many nights lying awake with the guilt weighing on his heart, or waking to nightmares of his past. Those were his darkest times, but Belle was always there to see him through

For the first time during their years together, rumple found himself I afraid to be honest with his true love, even when it came to admitting his shortfalls. The chance allowed for their relationship to grow stronger, and he began to believe that he could truly one day be worthy of her love. It wasn't long before he was granted a second chance at fatherhood with the birth of their beautiful twin girls.

As time wore on, Rumple worked to right yet another wrong he had caused. Though he could no longer use magic, he was able to pass his knowledge on to Emma. Her light magic could do things the dark magic could never do, and after a few years, they were finally able to open a sustainable portal between the Enchanted Forrest and Storybrooke, allowing those who wished to finally return home.

Belle would travel through the portal once or twice a year to see her father who had elected to forget the flower business to return to his title and his manor, but Rumple never did. The only other person in town who avoided it like he had was Regina. They both had had the same feeling about that world: their old selves belonged there. Their happy ending wasn't possible in that world, and neither of them was bothered by that so long as they had it in this one. Instead, he took his wife and his children and traveled the new world, seeing its wonders for the first time together.

For so long Rumpelstiltskin had warned others that magic came with a price, but only after he had been freed from the dark ones grip did he realize what his power truly cost. In the end, the magic was the price he paid, and when he looked at his wife, his children, or his grandson, he couldn't feel blessed more that he had paid it.


End file.
